The Federal Aviation Administration formally recognizes pilots and flight attendants as occupationally exposed to ionizing radiation, but unlike other radiation-exposed workers or aircrew in other countries, U.S. aircrew are not subject to federal dose limits or monitoring requirements.
Why the fuck not.
Would be grounds to ask for more pay or work fewer hours to lower exposure, probably.
I’m a radiation worker, I’m required to wear a dosimeter whenever I go into parts of the building near the nuclear reactor. This dosimeter is measured 4 times a year for radiation exposure. A few years ago there was a big problem because someone’s dosimeter showed a very large dose. It was found they’d accidentally brought it home and onto a flight. So two flights (a around trip) was enough to cause a bunch of alarms at a facility that actually monitors radiation exposure.
Pilots and flight attendants are secretly some of the most exploited workers in the US. As a pilot eventually you may work your way up to bigger planes and better flights, but boy do you have to eat a lot of shit to get there. And flight attendants don’t even get paid for all the hours they’re required to work.
I"m surprised this hasn’t been reported before. Spending much of one’s life at 30K ft, inside an aluminum tube would be expected to expose one to significant cosmic rays.
So I DDG’d it, here’s a few links:
Cosmic Radiation Dose with Altitude Calculator https://codingace.net/physics/cosmic_radiation_dose_with.html
Flight Crews and Radiation Exposure https://www.versantphysics.com/2024/03/27/flight-crews-and-radiation-exposure/
Facts About Radiation from Air Travel https://www.cdc.gov/radiation-health/data-research/facts-stats/air-travel.html